Local News - Mullica Township teachers union, school board reach tentative agreement on new contract
MULLICA TOWNSHIP — After working for little more than a year without a contract, the Mullica Township Education Association finally reached a tentative agreement with Mullica school officials Tuesday.
Barbara Rheault, the union president and a science teacher, declined to.....Continue Reading
comment on the details of the tentative agreement during the School Board meeting because both sides are in the process of drawing up new salary guidelines. The agreement would have to be voted on and approved by the union and School Board. Superintendent Brenda Harring-Marro and School Board President Spiros Malaspina declined to comment about the agreement as well, but Malaspina said he hoped it could be finalized by the end of this week or next week.
The Mullica Township Education Association has 104 members and includes teachers, the child study team, secretaries, custodians, the school nurse and cafeteria workers. The union’s contract with the school district expired June 30, 2009.
Negotiations have been ongoing since December 2008, and Rheault said it has been contentious. The union initially considered holding a protest at the School Board meeting and proposed boycotting back-to-school night because an additional concession was requested, Rheault said. The protests were called off when a tentative deal was struck on Tuesday morning. The district’s back-to-school night was rescheduled from this week to Oct. 6 and 7.
“We’re just hopeful to bring the process to a conclusion. ... a speedy resolution,” Rheault said.
Last spring, the Mullica teachers union had requested raises of 4.5 percent in 2009-10, 4.25 percent in 2010-11 and 4.25 percent in 2011-12. The district proposed a wage freeze for 2009-10, a 3 percent raise for 2010-11 and a 3.2 percent raise for 2011-12. The teachers already paid $400 toward medical benefits and a new state law requiring workers to pay 1.5 percent of their salaries to health benefits will raise that amount.
In a report released in July, state fact-finder Susan Wood Osborn wrote that teachers in rural Atlantic County school districts should receive a 3 percent raise for last year, about 1.3 percent for this school year and 3.7 percent for 2011-2012.
More than 30 people sat in the audience of the School Board meeting inside the library; most were school workers or politicians.
Tom Monzo, a former school board member and retired Hammonton school business administrator, spoke out in favor of a contract settlement. Monzo said negotiations “have gone well beyond where there should have been an agreement. You got a great school (district) with great teachers.”
Contact Michelle Lee: 609-272-7256 MLee@pressofac.com
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